But months later he discovered what he says was the first of many problems in his new home. An off-kilter bathroom floor sloped downward, measuring an inch higher at one end.

Since then, Pinto said, every time he turns around the house needs another repair.

Now Pinto is one of 59 homeowners suing developer Ranchwood Homes over what they claim is shoddy construction at the Borrelli Ranch subdivision in Gustine.

Attorneys for Ranchwood Homes could not be reached for comment. Ranchwood President Greg Hostetler said he stands by his product. He called the lawsuit an "income generator" for lawyers, referring to how attorneys usually take a one-third cut of cash settlements.

"I think Ranchwood builds an excellent home," Hostetler said.

The lawsuit is one of at least three legal battles pitting homeowners against developers in county courts. Attorneys for Pinto and the other Borrelli Ranch plaintiffs are seeking close to $8 million in damages to cover repair work on the houses, said Melissa Pasek, a lawyer with the Concord firm Kasdan, Simonds, Riley & Vaughan, which specializes in construction defect litigation.

But Pinto said he didn't join the lawsuit for the money.

"I'm not a sue-happy guy," Pinto said. "I would like to see Ranchwood get their act together and start building some better quality homes. I would hope that they teach their workers better so that no one else ends up with a lemon. These guys are making good money; there's no excuse for shoddy workmanship."

Critics say these lawsuits, known as construction defect litigation, are frivolous actions brought by out-of-town attorneys who collect plaintiffs by knocking on doors as soon as home warranties expire.

But plaintiffs' attorneys contend they're fighting for the little guy against powerful developers who hold sway with politicians and the press.

Cases usually involve 18 months to two years of negotiations and end in cash settlements, said Terry Allen, a Merced attorney representing Bakersfield-based H/S Development in two separate construction defect lawsuits.

He called the idea that plaintiffs' attorneys speak for powerless homeowners "nonsense."

"This (settlement) money never goes to compensate the owner for the loss of value in their home," Allen said. "These people buy pick-ups and big screen TVs and it goes to the lawyers."

But Borrelli Ranch homeowner Charity Bernal, who bought her house on Via Compania in August 2004, said she signed up as a plaintiff because she wanted peace of mind, not money.

Mold has formed near a leaky sliding door in her master bedroom, Bernal said. She's hoping that after the attorneys' consultants inspect her house, they'll tell her whether the mold poses a health threat to her children and how it can be repaired, she said.

Marisa Wikstrom, who lives on Via Borrelli, said she decided against joining the lawsuit because her house doesn't have any major problems.

"The cabinetry isn't the best," she said. "(But) we really don't have anything for them to fix."

Pasek, one of the attorneys representing the Borrelli Ranch homeowners, said she expects the case to settle by the end of the year.

Hostetler likened construction defect litigation to "trip and fall" lawsuits, in which plaintiffs sue for personal injuries caused by cracked sidewalks.

But Michael Whitaker, a Carmel-based attorney representing 85 homeowners in H/S Development's Las Brisas subdivision in Merced, said he's proud of how he's helped Central Valley homeowners.

"Unfortunately there aren't many lawyers in the Valley willing to take up these kind of cases," Whitaker said. "These homes represent the largest investments that these homeowners have in their lives. They obviously suffer from substantial defects, and most of these folks don't have the financial wherewithal to effectuate the repairs."

Whitaker said over the course of his 23-year career he's faced threats of physical harm and attempts by developers to file complaints about him with the state bar association.

"There's no question that the developers wield an extraordinary amount of power and influence in the Valley," Whitaker said. "They are major advertisers in print and media, they have a lot of influence with local politicians. These guys, they throw their weight around."

Whitaker, who said he's never lost a case, said he recently settled a suit against KB Home that netted $26,000 for each plaintiff in an Atwater subdivision.

Whitaker said alleged defects in the Las Brisas houses, which are about seven years old, include leaky roofs and windows, cracked stucco, and poor drainage.

Homeowners' attorneys have prepared a list of alleged defects and presented it to H/S Development's lawyers, Whitaker said. Next, consultants will conduct a series of inspections, then attorneys will create a final report detailing the estimated cost of repairs, Whitaker said.

The case will likely take about 12 to 18 months to resolve, he said.

Allen, the attorney for H/S Development, said it's easy for plaintiffs' attorneys to make accusations of construction defects, but they don't always add up to much.

"If all of (the accusations) were true, the houses wouldn't be standing," Allen said.

In another lawsuit against H/S Development filed in January, the Fresno firm of Marderosion, Runyon, Cercone, Lehman & Armo is representing 88 plaintiffs who allege that their houses have misaligned windows and leaky water pipes, among other complaints.

Marderosian, Runyon attorneys did not return calls for comment. Court filings do not yet specify which H/S Development subdivision is involved in the complaint.

Marderosian, Runyon is the same law firm that recently filed claims against the city and county on behalf of almost 500 people seeking damages related to last year's floods.

Construction defect lawsuits first became prevalent in the 1980s, when it was common for condominium homeowners associations to sue builders, said Kimberly Dellinger, a legislative advocate with the California Building Industry Association.

Eventually the rash of litigation made it so difficult for builders to get insurance that some were forced to stop building, Dellinger said.

In 2003, builders and plaintiffs' attorneys compromised and wrote a new law, SB 800 -- commonly known as the Fix-It Law -- meant to curtail the lawsuits, Dellinger said.

Now, owners of houses built after 2003 are required to call builders and ask them to make repairs before they take their complaints to court, Dellinger said.

The houses in Borrelli Ranch and the H/S Development houses at Las Brisas were all built before 2003, according to plaintiffs' attorneys.

Hostetler, who's been in the building business since 1984, said construction defect litigation takes a financial toll on small local builders who aren't as well-insured as national companies.

"Lawsuits always have an impact on your reputation and your business plan for sure," Hostetler said. "It makes it more difficult to get insurance and if you do not have insurance, you cannot build. Long-term, these lawsuits are going to put these local builders out of business."

Litigation also deals a blow to developers' standing in the community, said Don Gray, president of the Merced County chapter of the Building Industry Association.

"It's a scary thing for builders," Gray said. "These are local guys, they live in this community, and it kind of slanders their reputations when these lawsuits come out."

Gray pointed to Hostetler as a developer who has donated generously to local charities and schools. Allen, the attorney for H/S Development, said his client is one of the few developers that builds lower priced housing in Merced County.

"These are guys that care about what they build and care about their community," Gray said.

Pinto, the Ranchwood homeowner in Borrelli Ranch, said he wished the people who built his house had shown more care.

The first problem he noticed after buying the 2,545 square-foot house for $420,000 was a crooked second-floor window sill. Then when he wanted to install a sliding door around his bathtub, the worker doing the job showed him that the floor sloped almost one inch from one end to the other.

"The Egyptians built the pyramids over hundreds of acres and they were only off by about a quarter-inch, and these guys couldn't put in a six-foot floor that's not off an inch," Pinto said.

Next it was a warped baseboard in a first-floor room, then water started seeping up through the floor in a first-floor bathroom. A few days ago he and his son ripped out the linoleum in the bathroom to pinpoint the source of the water.

He said he has no expectations of making money from the lawsuit against Ranchwood. He just wants the company to build better quality houses.

"I'm not a complainer," Pinto said. "I'm just a little disappointed. I thought people were capable of doing better work these days with all the modern equipment."

Reporter Leslie Albrecht can be reached at 385-2484 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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